The Apple iPad: starts at $499 — After nearly a decade of rumors and speculation, Apple's finally unveiled the iPad. Apple says there's room for a third device between the smartphone and the laptop, and that it has to be better at tasks like browsing, email, photos, e-books …

Apple iPad First Hands On — It's substantial but surprisingly light. Easy to grip. Beautiful. Rigid. Starkly designed. The glass is a little rubbery but it could be my sweaty hands. And it's fasssstttt. — Apple didn't really sell this point, but it's the single biggest benefit of the iPad: speed.

No Flash on Apple's iPad — Here's another way Apple's just-announced tablet device, the iPad, resembles a giant iPhone: It won't run Flash content. — The continuing absence of Flash from the iPhone has been the subject of plenty of debate and speculation.

Apple iPad First Device to Use “Apple A4” Processor — Apple didn't buy P.A. Semiconductor for nothing. And now the fruits of that buyout are appearing: The Apple iPad uses a 1GHz “A4” chip that can decode HD video for up to 10 hours on a single charge. [Apple iPad]

Apple iPad sends stock down - then up — The debut on Wednesday of Apple's long-awaited tablet sent the company's stock on a wild ride. Apple shares fell 4% immediately after CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPad, a touch-screen tablet computer that runs apps from the iTunes store and boasts a 10-hour battery life.

Apple reveals iBookstore and app for the iPad — Put this down as something else rumored that's come to fruition today. Apple's just announced iBooks, an e-reader app and bookstore (called iBookstore) for the iPad, using the ePub format. We're seeing prices around $12.99 to $14.99 so far... looks pretty slick!

Apple Wins iChat and Major Tablet Patent Prior to Launch — The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 13 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. Without a doubt the granted patent that screams out this morning is one that relates to Apple's forthcoming Tablet.

Search is getting more social — Late last year we released the Social Search experiment to make search more personal with relevant web content from your friends and online contacts. We were excited by the number of people who chose to try it out, and today Social Search is available to everyone in beta on google.com.

Elevation invests in Yelp, up to $100 million — Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley VC firm that counts U2's Bono among its investors, announced Wednesday has committed up to $100 million in funding for reviews site Yelp. — It's initially investing $25 million in the Series E round …

Bing on iPhone - Microsoft's Ultimate Mobile Coup? — If the recent blitz of rumors are correct, Apple is considering booting Google from iPhone Safari and giving Bing its spot as default search engine. As huge as this is from a business relations point of view (Apple must be seriously angry …

Twitter Working to Thwart China, Iran Censors — Twitter is developing technology aimed at preventing the governments of China and Iran from censoring Tweets, co-founder Evan Williams told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Financial Times is reporting.

AT&T To Launch Yelp Competitor — The telco's buzz.com site lets users' “favorite” local vendors and services. — AT&T latched on early to the local search and advertising market, first with the Yellow Pages, then with an online version, YellowPages.com.